AG rescues lawyer diagnosed with

DISCRIMINATED:

“It is a fact that some companies retrench or retire people with kidney disease on medical grounds, which is very unfair. As I pointed out before, people suffering from this disease are family men, breadwinners and do not deserve to be discriminated at work.”

MBABANE – The Attorney General (AG) Sifiso ‘Mashampu’ Khumalo has received glowing praise for rescuing the career of a law student who now works at his office.

Ntobeko Khisumusi Mamba was diagnosed with kidney disease in 2010 while doing his LLB third year at the University of Eswatini. It all looked doom and gloom for him after that unexpected and depressing diagnoses, but thanks to the kindness of the AG, he was able to fulfil his dreams of becoming a lawyer after completing the course.

Normally, an LLB course takes five years to complete at UNESWA but due to his illness, it took Mamba seven years to finally graduate, as he had to repeat once and dropped out for a year for the same reason. Information gathered is that Khumalo facilitated his employment at the AG’s office, where he has been working for over a decade now.

Notably is that the AG has also ensured that Mamba continued to undergo the required dialysis at the Mbabane Government Hospital while earning a living at the same time. The Eswatini National Kidney Foundation (ENKF), through their Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nkosinathi Dlamini, extended their warmest appreciation to the AG for his kind gesture towards Mamba. Ironically, Mamba is also a member of the foundation.

Speaking to Eswatini News, Mamba made it no secret that he was earning a living now through the kindness and efforts of the AG. “I owe a lot to the AG, he is a true blessing in my life. Without him, I would probably be bedridden or even passed away due to stress of not getting employment,” Mamba said.

Narrating his situation, Mamba said after completing his LLB in 2017, he filed an application for advertised vacant posts at the AG’s Office. “After submitting my application, I personally went to the AG’s Office with the hope of meeting him and explaining my condition to him. Unfortunately, I could not meet him but left a message with his secretary. Through God’s grace, the AG hired me on a year contract in 2017,” Mamba said.

Worse

The lawyer further shared that the AG approved a one year extension of his contract from 2017 to 2019, when the sickness got worse, forcing him to stay at home for treatment. “During my time at UNESWA, I had to attend dialysis three times a week, which means I had only two days to make it to class. In one of these days, I could not attend classes because my body was always tired after the dialysis the previous day. So, I effectively attended one class in a week,” he said.

Mamba further conceded that during his studies at UNESWA, some lecturers were kind enough to give him study notes and tests for the classes he could not attend. “During the first year, I had

Ntobeko Mamba, who is a kidney disease patient and was hired by the Attorney General despite his condition. He will be going for a kidney transplant in India soon, courtesy of the MoU between the Eswatini National Kidney Foundation and a hospital in India. to drop out as the disease made it impossible for me to attend classes. When I finally resumed classes the following year, I had difficulties with some of the lessons and as a result, I failed during one of the semester. After that, I was able to progress well with my studies until I graduated,” Mamba said.

He has been undergoing the dialysis treatment for 14 years now and currently confined to a wheelchair. However, this has not stopped him from religiously attending work at the AG’s Office on a daily basis. “The AG is a very understanding and professional man. He noted the nature of my disease and never discriminated me. I owe my life

to him,” Mamba said.

Meanwhile, CEO Nkosinathi Dlamini said as a Kidney Foundation, they were running short of words to show their appreciation to the AG for assisting Mamba. “It is a fact that some companies retrench or retire people with kidney disease on medical grounds, which is very unfair. As I pointed out before, people suffering from this disease are family men, breadwinners and do not deserve to be discriminated against at work,” Dlamini said.

stress

The CEO said the AG’s assistance towards Mamba was a demonstration that there were still a lot of good people in the country. “What people need to understand is that people like Mamba need our support because if they are neglected, stress will kill them. They must

be made to feel part of the society we are living in and this will help prolong their lives,” Dlamini said.

He implored companies or individuals to take a leaf from the AG’s kind gesture and assist kidney patients. “On the issue of Ntobeko Mamba, who is also one of the founding members of the Eswatini National Kidney Foundation, they were short of words for government, in particular the attorney general, who knowingly employed a renal patient.

“His case is a bit different from other employees in the public sector as he was employed when he was already a kidney patient, as opposed to those who develop kidney failure when they are already working,” Dlamini said.

Adding, the CEO said this was the reason they were wishing for employers to emulate the

Kidney foundation CEO says this was the reason they were wishing for employers to emulate the AG.